Agreement Near for Headlands Plan

A plan to build as many as 130 homes on one of Orange County’s largest remaining tracts of undeveloped oceanfront is near final approval, Dana Point officials said Thursday.

Negotiators for the City Council and owners of the Headlands, a 121-acre parcel that includes the rocky promontory for which the city is named, said they have reached a consensus, though details are still being resolved. The agreement with Headlands Reserve LLC would allow the new housing plus public facilities including 62 acres of open space, a beach area, four miles of trails and three parks.

The agreement also calls for up to 40,000 square feet of commercial development at Pacific Coast Highway and Street of the Green Lantern.

Dana Point Mayor Ruby L. Netzley, who with Councilman Wayne Rayfield negotiated on behalf of the city, said there is a possibility more open space will be acquired later.

“My real aim is to get what the community wants, to the degree that we can,” she said.

Development of the Headlands has been a hotly debated issue for years, opposed by residents concerned about traffic and other congestion, environmentalists fearing ecological damage and officials seeking the city’s best use of the land. Plans at one point called for a 100-room hotel near Strand Beach, but the latest proposal scratches that and provides instead for two bed-and-breakfast establishments or two inns with a maximum of 50 rooms each.

Headlands official Sanford Edward said Thursday: “I think anybody would agree that the size and scale and impact of a B&B; is much different than a large hotel. It has a different ambience.”

Many details are yet to be resolved, he said, though “I don’t think there are going to be any dramatic changes.”

No date has been set yet for a construction start.